Hotel Harry Hits

A 100-year-old corner hotel in Surry Hills is reopening with a Caribbean makeover this Friday.

Paul Wilson

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Paul Wilson

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Published on 12 November 2014

by Jane de Graaff

The century old Macquarie Hotel on the corner of Goulburn Street and Wentworth Avenue in Surry Hills unveils its new look this week. It is relaunching as Hotel Harry, with two new places to eat and a revamped public bar, followed by boutique hotel rooms in the near future. The venue draws on its past for its name – alluding to the name of the earlier dining room at the hotel; Harpoon Harry’s. But the food is going in a whole new direction, with acclaimed chef, Paul Wilson (Icebergs, Bar de Thé and Salon de Thé), consulting on the menu with a Latin theme.

From Friday November 14, Harpoon Harry Barbacoa in the ground-floor public bar will fire up, offering a taste of original Latin barbeque. It has a custom-designed, indirect wood-smoked barbacoa that will be slow cooking Australian heritage and sustainable meats in Latin spices over aromatic woods.

“Latin families have been buying street-side barbecoa for centuries,” says Wilson. “This street food is the heartbeat of the working people which nourishes the soul.”

True to these street-food roots you can get it via a street-side window or order at the bar with guacamole and Aquas Fresco drinks.

From Tuesday November 25, the level-one Paladar Dining Room will showcase the full breadth of Latin food influences from Aztec to Spanish in a colonial, island-style dining room, complete with ceviche bar and a feasting menu including spit-roast suckling pig.

“Australia has a respectful enthusiasm for exploring global flavours and I am excited to continue making a Nuevo Latino contribution,” says Wilson, who’s a passionate champion of Latin flavours and has recently released his Cantina cookbook.

Reimagined Cuban cocktails come by way of cocktail specialist Clinton Hor, previously of Icebergs and Melbourne’s Kodiak Club while Latin beers and South American wines will be selected by Rocco Esposito, previously of Vue de Monde in Melbourne. The hotel will be reborn with a distinctly Caribbean island feel, marrying its century-old architecture with colonial-island opulence and post-revolution Cuban hospitality.